fastest tennis player?

As the game continues to get faster many players are getting faster and faster. Hewitt was one known for his speed and many other players are nearly as fast or faster then him. Yet who do you think is the fastest? Id put hewitt then nadal then blake then corria

I'd put Blake, actually. When I've seen him play, it seems that in terms of pure speed, he's above those guys (on a hardcourt, at least.) But he's unable to hit on the run as well as the other guys can, so he's not as effective with his speed. But in terms of pure speed, he's up there.

Though it's really hard to tell on TV without any sort of measurement of speed.

And of course, on clay it would definitely be Coria or Nadal, the hardcourters lose a lot of their speed when their footing goes.

Nadal Coria and Hewitt are the fastest, not sure of the order. As for Blake, head first diving for a ball and hitting a mishit passing shot off the tip of his frame and then sliding on his stomach for 10 feet should not be misconstrued for speed

nadal, when he was playing itf junior tour he used to run every day for at least half an hour, although he has playd match that day and has another one to play next day, all playes were going to hotel to take a rest and he got out running, now results are visible (and he also has lots of problems with his knees)

It's not just who is fastest, it's also what you do after you get there. Coria reaches impossible balls but he doesn't do much afterwards. Nadal is just as quick but also manages to get good returns out of those hard to reach balls. So I'd say he is the "fastest for something useful" player.

Nadal, Coria, and Hewitt yeah - definitely all fast. I've noticed Olivier Rochus looks very fast. Part of it may be that he anticipates well - looks like he starts moving right before the racquet face makes contact with the ball and is already two or three steps on the way by the time the ball leaves the racquet. Even besides that, he's just very fast. I think he makes up for in speed what he lacks in height.

Nadal looks the fastest of the top players today.
I think chang was the fastest I remember in the 90s
and Bjorn in the 80s. These are all guys who move great laterally.
For speed off the service line, Edberg was unreal, like a world class sprinter !

Borg wasn't really that fast, what he had was a superb sense of location. He was always where the shot was. In fact if you watch his matches he often looks quite static while his rival swings left and right -but that's just because of his superior court vision and shot placement.

Raw sprinting speed and speed on a tennis court are definitely not exactly the same. Rarely in tennis are you sprinting straight ahead like you would in the 100m dash. Moreover, as mentioned before, it's not just how fast you can move on the court, but how much body control you can maintain while on the run to execute shots, your footwork and balance, quickness of change of direction, and anticipation. I think "eye" and "mind" speed are equally important as footspeed in terms of covering court....the faster your eyes can track the ball, and the faster your mind can analyze or even anticipate where your opponent is going with their shot, the faster you can get to the ball.

Blake is said to have the top straight sprinting speed on tour, while I believe Nadal to be clearly tops for lateral speed, change of direction, and body control while on the move. Federer surely is near the top for "eye speed" and "mental quickness"/anticipation. He also possesses excellent balance and body control.

I imagine Monfils may also rival Nadal and Blake in terms of footspeed and lateral quickness...but in the end Rafael gets the nod in my book for overall court coverage.

Borg wasn't really that fast, what he had was a superb sense of location. He was always where the shot was. In fact if you watch his matches he often looks quite static while his rival swings left and right -but that's just because of his superior court vision and shot placement.

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You've got to be kidding me. Borg once outran an OLYMPIC RUNNER in some sort of friendly competition. He was the fittest and fastest tennis player probably ever in terms of pure speed. Nadal is fast, but he won't outrun an olympic runner, trust me. Borg was practically from another planet in terms of physical attributes.

You've got to be kidding me. Borg once outran an OLYMPIC RUNNER in some sort of friendly competition. He was the fittest and fastest tennis player probably ever in terms of pure speed. Nadal is fast, but he won't outrun an olympic runner, trust me. Borg was practically from another planet in terms of physical attributes.

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It was actually an Olympic hurdler, and the guy was taking it seriously too. However, it wasn't a sprint, it was more of a brutal endurance thing that they did. I only caught a brief glimpse of it on TTC. It looked like they were jumping over these big water buckets surrounded in mud. Looked really, really brutal and messy, and Borg stayed in front of everyone else and didn't slow down for a second. He was a machine. He was actually a more finely tuned machine than Nadal, lighter and quicker and seemingly indestructible.

Raw sprinting speed and speed on a tennis court are definitely not exactly the same. Rarely in tennis are you sprinting straight ahead like you would in the 100m dash. Moreover, as mentioned before, it's not just how fast you can move on the court, but how much body control you can maintain while on the run to execute shots, your footwork and balance, quickness of change of direction, and anticipation. I think "eye" and "mind" speed are equally important as footspeed in terms of covering court....the faster your eyes can track the ball, and the faster your mind can analyze or even anticipate where your opponent is going with their shot, the faster you can get to the ball.

Blake is said to have the top straight sprinting speed on tour, while I believe Nadal to be clearly tops for lateral speed, change of direction, and body control while on the move. Federer surely is near the top for "eye speed" and "mental quickness"/anticipation. He also possesses excellent balance and body control.

I imagine Monfils may also rival Nadal and Blake in terms of footspeed and lateral quickness...but in the end Rafael gets the nod in my book for overall court coverage.

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Yes blake looks like he has top straight sprinting speed, IIRC blake said monfils could be faster than him.